The Perfect Chocolate Cake Topped With Salty Caramelized Walnuts

this is the perefct chocloate cake! it is moist, crumbly, chocolaty, perfect! and the salty caramelized walnuts add a nice different crunchy texture to it. i just love this cake!
it is very easy to make, just try it, you won't be disappointed.

and you can also alter the recipe to your liking, see last step.

the cake:
- 200 g of dark chocolate
- 1 1/4 (5/4) cups boiling water
- 150 g yoghurt
- a vanilla pod
- 120 g butter
- 1 1/4 (5/4) cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 2/3 (5/3) cups flour
- 1 teaspoon soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

for the topping:
- 120 g dark chocolate
- 2 tablespoons coconut fat
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 100g walnuts
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

you will need a sprinform, a measuring cup, knife, chopping board, and a handheld mixer or a whisk and some ellbow grease.

chop the chocolate finely and put in a bowl. pour the boiling water over the chocolate (don't worry, it will not curdle, just make sure the water is really hot). whisk the mixture until the chocolate is dissolved and then add the yoghurt. make a slit in the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds and add them to the chocolate mixture as well. mix thoroughly and put aside.
prepare the springform:
put a piece of baking paper between the springform bottom and the ring, butter the ring.

preheat your oven to 180°C.

the butter has to be very soft, but not liquid. the easiest way to achieve this is to put the butter in a microwave and put it for one or two minutes in the defreeze setting. or you can leave the butter outside of the fridge for some time, how long will depend on how warm your house is. if you don't have time, you could also melt the butter and then put it back in the fridge, stirring every few minutes until is is at the desired consistency.
put the soft butter and the sugar in another bowl and whisk until pale and fluffy. add the eggs and whisk a little more until they are compltely incorporated. mix flour, salt and soda and add it to the bowl. whisk again until you have a homogenous mixture, then add the chocolate mixture from the other bowl and whisk until mixed.
pour the cake mixture into the springform.

put the cake in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. when the cake is done, it will still be very soft and will look moist, but if the toothpick stays clean it's done.

let the cake cool completely.

in the meantime, chop the walnuts into little pieces.

put the sugar in a pan and heat it on medium heat. once th sugar starts to get a golden color (it can be that the sugar might still have some lumps at that point, that doesn't matter), add the walnuts and the salt and stir well so that the walnuts are covered evenly with the salty caramel. put the walnuts into a bowl, otherwise they will stick to the pan. to clean the pan, don't start scrubbing, soak it in water until the sugar has dissolved.

chop the chocolate, put in in a bowl together with the coconut fat and melt it in a bain-marie. let it cool down a bit.

take the cold cake out of the form and put it on a plate, then pour the liquid chocolate over the cake so that the cake is evenly coated and the chocolate also runs down the sides of the cake and covers them as well.

sprinkle the caramelized walnuts on top of the cake and put the cake in a cool and dry place until the chocolate topping has hardend.

enjoy your cake!

if you liked it, as i am sure you will, maybe next time you make it you can try some variations:
(i tried all of them so far, and they are all great)

- switch the hot water for the same amount of espresso for a mokka-chocolate cake
- use milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate and hot milk instead of the water and add a handfull or two of whole toasted and skinned hazelnuts to the cake mixture for some nougaty goodness
- replace chocolate and water with white chocolate and hot milk and add 100g of sliced almonds and some berries of your choice
- ....